Sanjay Seth files nomination as BJP's 8th Rajya Sabha candidate from UP

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], February 15 : Former Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Seth filed his nomination as the eighth Rajya Sabha candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
Seth filed his nomination in the presence of Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and other party leaders.
Speaking on Seth's candidature, Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "Today our eighth Rajya Sabha candidate Sanjay Seth has filed his nomination. The country is progressing under the leadership of our Prime Minister. Our numbers are more, hence we will get a bigger number in the Rajya Sabha elections also."
Notably, Sanjay Seth, a well-known realtor of Uttar Pradesh, was the SP's treasurer, who joined the BJP in 2019 and served as an MP of the BJP in May 2019.
Concerning the number of MLAs of the ruling BJP-led NDA, the candidates nominated by the BJP have a high chance of getting elected.
Seven candidates of the BJP have already filed their nominations for the RS polls slated to be held on February 27.
Now, the ruling BJP's move to bring an eighth candidate into the fray has put the opposition, Samajwadi Party (SP) in a tight spot.
Earlier congratulating Seth on being nominated as the eighth Rajya Sabha candidate, state BJP President Bhupinder Chaudhry expressed confidence in securing the numbers in the upper house.
"Today Sanjay Seth has been nominated as our 8th Rajya Sabha candidate, I congratulate him. Today the country is rapidly making progress under the direction of PM Narendra Modi. We have the majority in the assembly so I am confident that we will get the required numbers," he said.
BJP has already nominated RPN Singh, Sudhanshu Trivedi, Chaudhary Tejveer Singh, Sadhna Singh, Amarpal Maurya, Sangita Balwant and Navin Jain from Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier this week, actor-turned-politician Jaya Bachchan, Ramji Lal Suman and Alok Ranjan of the Samajwadi Party filed their nomination in the presence of Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, along with the proposers of all the candidates. Senior leaders of the party including Shivpal Singh Yadav were present during the nomination process.
The biennial Rajya Sabha polls for 56 seats across 15 States will be held on February 27 and the last date for filing nominations is today.
Results of the elections will be announced on the same day, February 27.
In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the BJP has 252 members, its alliance partners namely Apna Dal (sone Lal) have 13, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party has 6 and the recently made ally, Rashtriya Lok Dal has 9 members.
While the opposition, Samajwadi Party has 108 members and its INDIA bloc ally Congress has 2 MLAs.
Others include Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal with six members, Jansatta Dal Loktantrik with two members and Bahujan Samaj Party has one member.
Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of vacancies in the Rajya Sabha of 10 seats, followed by Maharashtra and Bihar (six each), Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal (five each), Karnataka and Gujarat (four each), Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan (three each), and Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Chhattisgarh (one each).